In operating CAD, three-dimensional (3D) modeling and animation systems, a designer conventionally inputs data into the system through multiple input devices such as a keyboard, a finger touch-tablet, a trackball, a joystick, a mouse, or 3D input devices. A typical workstation or other set-up uses several of such single-handed, single purpose, input devices in front of at least one monitor, all located on a desktop. In use of the system, the operator's principle focus is on the monitor but at the same time, in order to enter data, the operator must move his or her hand from one input device to another. Accordingly, the hand must be continually repositioned on various input devices, requiring the operator to look away from the monitor and at the device to be used.
Such shifting of the eyes between the display and various input devices when using CAD, 3D modeling and animation systems, and other computer equipment causes the user to break his concentration on the work-in-progress. Having to remove one's eyes from the screen, to look instead at the next input device to-be-used while the next input is made, and then to look back at the screen and find the point on the display affected by the input, to confirm its entry, is distracting, time-consuming, inefficient, prone to error, and tiring. The foregoing modus operandi is exacerbated by the increasing need to input multi-dimensional spatial data, such as 3D information, requiring in itself multiple input devices, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,298,919 to Chang and U.S. Pat. No. 5,313,230 to Veniolia et al.
In addition, the conventional input devices for CAD, 3D modeling and animation systems, force an operator to sit in a relatively fixed position in front of a desk. It is well established that the use of even just one computer input device, such as a keyboard or pad, on a desktop can cause several different types of muscle strain on the user. As such, the described inputting method with multiple devices adds to the normal fatigue, discomfort, and other ergonomic problems associated with working at a desk top.
Improvements have been proposed to overcome some of the problems with desktop input devices. For example, a single handed, hand-held input device has been proposed in NASA Tech Brief, Vol. 16, No. 11, Item #64, from JPL New Technology Report NPO-110231/7740, entitled Portable Computer Keyboard for Use With One Hand, by G. Friedman dated November 1992. The Friedman device is a hand-held, egg-shaped input device providing seven keys for the entry of normal keyboard data in place of a standard computer keyboard. Although this device does not require a desktop for its use, it is not suited to mount input devices of the various types necessary for CAD, 3D modeling and animation operation. Moreover, it must be grasped by the same hand that inputs the data and at the same time as the keys are being manipulated, a possible source of stress on the hand involved. The single hand, hand-held input devices in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,063,376 to Chang and 5,296,871 to Paley are subject to the same limitations as the Friedman device.
Apart from operating CAD, 3D modeling and animation systems and other computer equipment, various electrical, optical, or electro-optical equipment are controlled with input devices providing keypads, joysticks, dials, switches, and other control elements. For example, a television set, a VCR, a CD player, an amplifier, or other stereo equipment typically has its own remote control device. Although some integration of controls for different appliances has occurred, particularly as between a TV and a VCR, it is not uncommon to use three or four separate remote controls for the typical TV, VCR, and stereo equipment in many households. Such remote control devices are single purpose input devices that are used in free space and require two hands to operate. That is, the user must pick up the control, hold it in one hand, manipulate the buttons or other control elements with the free hand, and then set the control down before picking up a second input device to be operated.